Questions And Answers

We are a paint manufacturer that uses V-belt driven mills to grind the paint. These mills are in an explosion-proof area. The employees who load the mill do use antistatic precautions, but we are concerned about the belt itself having a static discharge. I have contacted numerous belt manufacturers, and the general answer is that while most V-belts are static conductive, the oil and/or grease from the motor gets on the belts and greatly affects this property. My question is, what can I do to prevent static build up on or near the belts? - Anonymous

Answer

First thing to do would be to ground the pulleys the belts are pulling. Because these machines are operating in an explosion-proof area I would not advise you to use corona based ionization to control static build up near the belts. Because of this constraint, there isn't too much to do for controlling this problem. You could contain the problem by putting a conductive grounded cover over the belt area. Another solution might be to frequently treat the belts with our Reztore™ Topical Antistatic solution, which keeps triboelectric charges well below 200 volts per EIA-625.